High-Resolution Geologic Mapping of Urvara Crater, Ceres
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Discovery Data Analysis Program
PSI Personnel
Non PSI Personnel: Debra Buczkowski (JHU/APL), Jennifer Scully (JPL), Alicia Neesemann (FU Berlin)
External Partners
- JHU/APL
- JPL
- FU Berlin
Project Description
Objectives:
We propose to develop a detailed geologic map and accompanying chronostratigraphy of Urvara crater, Ceres, based on high-resolution image data (3.5-20 m/px) acquired at the end of the Dawn mission. Crater diameter: 170 km. Map region: -128° to -93° E longitude, -59° to -35° N latitude. Publication scale: 1:250,000.
Science drivers:
Two major questions that arose from the Dawn mission at Ceres are: What was the role of impacts in facilitating the development of putative cryovolcanic landforms? And to what degree did individual large impacts contribute to observed regional and hemispheric variation in crustal ice content? Reconstructing the chronological evolution of individual crater interiors and ejecta deposits is critical to addressing both questions. Urvara is a prime target for this type of analysis because previous low-resoultion geologic mapping identified a potentially extrusive unit in the crater floor and Urvara is one of only two candidate sites for cryovolcanism on Ceres where 3.5-20 m/px image data is available.
Approach:
The primary research tasks of our four-year proposal are to: (1) construct a set of three controlled image mosaics (20 m/ px, <10 m/px, and <5 m/px) covering the Urvara interior and portions of the rim; (2) develop a new USGS-compliant 1:250,000 scale geologic map of Urvara; (3) expand the existing Ceres global crater catalog to diameters <200 m at Urvara, allowing evaluation of the role of secondary impacts and improved dating of geologic units; (4) archive image mosaics and the geologic map with the PDS and USGS respectively; and (5) use the resultant datasets to answer the key science questions related to the potential cryovolcanic origin of floor materials in Urvara.
Benefits:
Recent analysis and mapping based on high-resolution images of Occator crater, Ceres, have produced a detailed chronological sequence of crater floor evolution and strengthened the case for prolonged hydrothermal activity and/or cryovolcanism at Occator (Scully et al., 2019a; 2019b, in revision). Performing a comparable analysis at Urvara will allow us to evaluate whether extrusive processes have occurred at Urvara and draw conclusions about crater evolution and the impact redistribution of volatiles that have global relevance for Ceres.
